The mom of Eli Pugh feared the worst after her son was lost in the catastrophe of the storm.
A Florida mother's desperate search for her 10-year-old son ended with an emotional reunion.
Eli Pugh's mom hadn't heard from her son since before Hurricane Michael struck. He was staying with his father, Billy Pugh, in Panama City when the storm made landfall.
"They decided to stay at home, but then the roof got blown off their house, so they left in the middle of the storm," the distraught mom told Inside Edition correspondent Steven Fabian. "I don't know where they went."
Fabian joined the search for Eli, going door to door with the mom and her two sisters as she hunted for her missing son.
At first, Eli and Pugh remained elusive. The group found where the two were staying after escaping their home, but they weren't there. Then, a boy said he thought he might know where Eli was and led the group there.
It was another dead end — until Eli and Pugh rolled up out of nowhere in a car as Inside Edition cameras were rolling.
The mom embraced her son, sobbing, as he emerged from the vehicle.
"We just couldn't get out," Pugh told Inside Edition. "We tried to send texts and all, but it failed."
The reunion was a bright spot amid the devastation from Michael.
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